Before "Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse" crushed the box office and became the # 1 movie in the world, I was a bit hesitant to see it. It seemed like the latest film from Sony pushed out to make a few more bucks with the popular Marvel characters they owned before they inevitably pawned them off to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I had read all of the storylines and enjoyed the comic books, but the movie seemed rushed, and ultimately, monetary. However, from the opening scene to the credits, I was thrilled by its genius and creativity. It's arguable that this movie is the greatest Spider-Man yet, due to its use of factors that the other movies had, but didn't use to their full potential.
Originality
"Into the Spider-Verse" went in a different direction than its predecessors by following the newest (and most refreshing) Spider-Man the comic books had to offer Miles Morales, a half African-American and half Latino thirteen-year-old from Brooklyn, provides a similar quirkiness to Peter Parker while being completely original through his own storyline and development with supporting characters. His installment of his uncle as the villain, "Prowler," makes for a different twist than Peter's, where his uncle was his motivation to become Spider-Man.
Strong Use of the Multiverse
The ability of the directors and writers to implement not one but seven spider-people into the film, while allowing them all room for development and intriguing dialogue, is brilliant in and of itself. The use of the Multiverse to execute this allows the movie to have characters from across the storylines in one film. The characters may seem a bit cramped at first, but the directors' vision allows them to implement the characters into their story at the right time and uses multiple Spider-Man stories from across the years.
Comic-Book Vibe
Throughout the film, the movie follows an almost perfect comic-book mold. From the animation to the dialogue boxes, to the actual comic books featured in the film, the movie felt like a jump from the imagination to the big screen. Using the animation to their advantage, writers and directors were able to capture something that the live action super hero films of the day were unable to: the fun of reading comic panels.
Use of Key Stories
The use of separate characters from across comics over the last fifty-six years was awesome, and the blend of personalities brought a new light on some of the characters unseen before the film. Some of the characters acted well as the comic relief and created a lighter feel throughout the movie. It was great to see a Spider-Man installment that was different than the last seven by being aware of itself and including new characters alongside older ones to make a story that hadn't been seen on screen or in comics.
Artistic Vision
The movie uses its animation as a key focus to keep the audience engaged. The visuals are breathtaking and help aid the storyline by accompanying the dialogue with outstanding colors, drawings, and comic-style shapes. Sony's animation team was given free rein to create a new world for the franchise, and they built something different than any other superhero movie in history. Movies are always recognized for visuals, but none other matches this in its vibrance and imagination.
This movie was not only the best Spider-Man film that I've seen; it was one of the best movies I've seen this year. It holds a new place in the world of animation and superheroes and rivals other movies in live action with larger budgets. Hopefully, Sony can follow up this film with more imaginative installments and bring a new light on what a Marvel movie can be. Before seeing this movie, I was rooting for Sony to drop the Marvel characters and let Disney have them in the MCU. However, if Sony can continue to put together movies like this, I don't want to see an end.
